Fair and square, Bruins win

PAC-10 TOURNAMENT Cardinal in good place approaching NCAAs

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, March 16, 2008

Photo: Stephen Dunn

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LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 15: Kevin Love #42 of the UCLA Bruins drives to the basket against the defense of Robin Lopez #42 and Brook Lopez #11 of the Stanford Cardinal during the championship game of the 2008 Pacific Life Pac-10 Men's Basketball Tournament Day Four at the Staples Center on March 15, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Ran on: 03-16-2008
Kevin Love, who was hampered by back trouble, works his way between the Lopez twins.
Ran on: 03-16-2008
Kevin Love, who was hampered by back trouble, works his way between the Lopez twins.
Ran on: 03-16-2008 less

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 15: Kevin Love #42 of the UCLA Bruins drives to the basket against the defense of Robin Lopez #42 and Brook Lopez #11 of the Stanford Cardinal during the championship game of the 2008 ... more

Photo: Stephen Dunn

Fair and square, Bruins win

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This time, there will be no mention of the officiating, except to mention that there will be no mention of the officiating.

This time, in the Pac-10 tournament championship game at the Staples Center, No. 3 UCLA simply beat No. 11 Stanford at the Cardinal's game - rebounding - as the Bruins collected 21 offensive rebounds.

And, this time, despite the absence of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute because of an ankle sprain sustained Friday, and despite the limited mobility of Kevin Love because of back problems, and despite some horrid free-throw shooting by the Bruins, UCLA held off a late rush by the Cardinal for a controversy-free 67-64 victory Saturday afternoon.

So the Cardinal, after their second close loss to UCLA in Los Angeles in 10 days, will go into the NCAA Tournament knowing they lost their last game, but also knowing that they are playing better heading into the postseason than they were last year.

"In three days, we beat a very good Arizona team for the third time. We beat a very good Washington State team for the third time, and we took arguably the best team in the country to the wire (for the second game) in a row," Stanford coach Trent Johnson said.

Last season, the Cardinal lost four of their final five games, including an opening-round loss to USC in the Pac-10 tournament, then laid an egg in a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Louisville.

"Winning the Pac-10 tournament was another one of our goals that we did not accomplish," junior Lawrence Hill said, "but we have one more goal, and that's to win the national championship."

UCLA figures to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament as a result of the win, and Bruins coach Ben Howland is glad he won't have to play the Cardinal again unless it's late in the tournament.

"I think they have a chance to be a Final Four team," Howland said.

Certainly, UCLA (31-3) has a chance to reach the Final Four for the third straight year, and one of the major reasons is the late-season play of Darren Collison. He was the driving force in both of UCLA's recent victories over Stanford. And, as was the case in the Bruins' March 6 overtime win over Stanford at Pauley Pavilion, Collison found himself at the foul line with less than three seconds remaining needing to sink some critical free throws.

Last week, he got to the line on a foul called on Hill with 2.5 seconds left when it appeared Hill had made a clean block. Collison's two foul shots sent the game into overtime, and the Bruins went on to win a game that created a national stir because of the officiating decision.

This time, when he went to the line with 2.9 seconds left after being fouled on purpose, he was trying to preserve a UCLA lead.

Stanford had whittled a 10-point UCLA lead with 2:18 left down to one point when Hill hit a layup with 3.1 seconds left. The Cardinal had trailed by three when they took possession with 19.6 seconds remaining, and Johnson wanted a quick-hitting drive to the basket. When the clock ticked under six seconds, as point guard Mitch Johnson searched for an opening, the Cardinal might have been well-served to attempt a three-pointer instead of settling for Hill's two-pointer.

In any case, Collison was left to try to stretch the lead back to three points from the foul line. The Bruins had made only 7 of 21 free throws to that point, but Collison made his two to finish off a 28-point game in which he drove around and through every defense Stanford attempted.

This time, when Anthony Goods missed a potential game-tying midcourt heave at the buzzer (it hit the rim), Stanford had lost, and the officials will not have their names in the paper.